Gita 13.07 Consciousness is shaped, not sourced, by changes of matter

Transcript

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ichcha-dvesha-sukham-dukham, sanghatash-cheta-nadhrate, etad-kshetram-samasena, savikaram-udaharitam.
Krishna continues speaking over here in this 13th chapter. He is speaking about the kshetra and kshetravikara. Arjuna had asked questions about kshetra and kshetravikara.
Krishna has talked about kshetragya in 2 to 5. And in 6 and 7 he is talking about kshetra and kshetravikara. So, in 6 he talked about kshetra and now he is talking about kshetravikara. So, kshetra is the area of action that is allotted to the soul as its own body and therein the soul functions.
So, now when the soul is present and the soul acts in the body, certain changes occur in the body because of that. And those changes are referred to over here, ichcha-dvesha-sukham-dukham. So, ichcha and dvesha.
The embodied soul has certain attractions and certain repulsions. The soul likes certain things and the soul dislikes certain things. Now, for example, humans, when we see human excreta, we are appalled by seeing it.
But hogs, what we find appalling, they find appealing. And such is the transformation of the kshetra, vikarand kshetra, based on the kind of body that the soul has and the kind of conditioning the soul has acquired. Corresponding with our attachments and aversions, ichcha-dvesha, there is sukham-dukham.
When we get what we have ichcha for, we get sukha. When we don’t get what we have ichcha for, we get dukha. Similarly, when we get what we have dvesha for, we get dukha.
And when we can avoid that which we have dukha for, that also causes sukha. That which we have dvesha, when we avoid that, we get sukha. So, these are all characteristics of the conditioned consciousness.
And these do not necessarily have any relationship with the soul proper. The soul’s original desires and soul’s original pleasure is different from whatever is experiencing in the conditioned stage. So, ichcha-dvesha-sukham-dukham.
These are transformations experienced based on the embodied condition of the soul. The aggregate of all such things, chetana, that is present in the chetana, the consciousness. And dhruti, dhruti is determination.
Now, chetana or consciousness is the result of, it emanates from the soul. So, it is a part of the kshetra-jna. So, why is Krishna saying that it is a part of the kshetra-vikara over here? It is a, actually, there is the original pure consciousness of the soul, this is chitta, sat-chit-ananda we say, chit.
And then there is the conditioned consciousness of the soul, which is what is being discussed over here. And the conditioned consciousness of the soul is quite different from its original pure consciousness. So, chetana in that sense comes from the soul.
But the chetana that is being discussed over here is kshetra-vikara that comes from the, that is a result of the interaction of the soul with the kshetra. So, our conditioned consciousness is manifesting not just from the soul, it is manifesting from the interaction of the soul with the body, particular kshetra that it is interacting with. So, in that sense, chetana is kshetra-vikara.
So, the consciousness of one person is different from the consciousness of another person. It is different from the consciousness of a third person. And this is within the same human species itself, different souls have different consciousness.
Or to speak of outside the human species, outside different species entirely. So, humans and camels and dogs and birds, they all have different consciousness. Dhriti is conviction.
So, we all have different conceptions of life. And these conceptions of life are shaped by our, by the way we move, by the way the soul is interacting with the body. This is the summary.
This is summary of nakshetra and and whatever transformations it has, this is exemplified over here. Sometimes in our own routine life, we may feel that, we may get some thought or some desire, which we find appalling. How can I think like this? How can I do like this? We feel what, we may feel what kind of person am I to think and do like this? This is terrible.
And we get, get thoughts like this. At that time, what we need to do is cognize that this is kshetra-vikara. So, from the pure soul’s perspective, this to identify with the body itself is abnormal.
But further, to identify with the, to identify with the person, who to identify with certain emotions that come up within us, that are actually, who don’t really have anything to do with us. In the sense that they are just intruders that have come in. So, just as the kshetra-vikara can happen in various ways, which does not reflect the nature of the person.
So, when we recognize this, then we don’t get too worked up by such transformations that happen. So, it is, according to some psychologists, it’s found that many mothers sometimes get the desire to hurt their babies. Now, they may feel sick about it.
Mothers are meant to love their babies. What kind of person am I if I get a desire to hurt my baby? They may get terrible levels of guilt because of the thoughts that are coming in their mind. And actually, hardly any mother will ever hurt her baby.
But why does the thought come? We all have a complex, have a consciousness that is a blend of very complex combination of impressions. And suddenly, any particular impression may just come up from somewhere. And when it comes up, we may be appalled at it.
Just like, if we are in a crowded place, then suddenly, there might be a terrorist, there might be some terrible person also who may be over there. And now, if we listen to that person, and if we do what that person is telling us, then we will become criminals. But if we just don’t pay any attention to that person, that person goes away, then we are not in any way harmed by that.
So, similarly, there are these stray desires, stray thoughts, stray ideas that come within us. If we don’t identify with them, if we don’t take them seriously, then they will go away. If we take them seriously, then we will act on them and that can have serious consequences.
So, just as we are wary about thoughts that are outside our normal perimeter of thinking that we consider right, similarly, from the soul’s perspective, even the present perimeter of thoughts and desires that are there, which are largely centered on matter, they are also unnatural for the soul. And gradually, as we become purified, we’ll become free from them. But at least at the level of analysis, we can understand that my desires, my attachments, my aversions, these do not define me.
I am something different, I am something bigger, I am something better than all this. And by the process of bhakti, I can truly recognize and relish the better me. Thank you.